Star Bright
by Techno Skittles
Summary: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might. Have the wish I wish tonight. "I wish I wasn't so alone." Shooting Star AU


_**{Gave my love to a shooting star; But she moves so fast}**_

The clatter of keys on the counter echoed through the still house, disturbing the grave silence. Nothing responded, as to be expected when one was living alone, but Ruby still couldn't help but feel the crush of loneliness. This would be the part where her sister would call out from her room or wave from their living room couch to greet her home but now….

Nothing, of course.

After all, the dead don't speak.

Shedding her jacket from her shoulders she tossed it over one of the kitchen chairs and dropped her backpack to the ground against the wall. The shuffle of her movements filled the silence but did nothing to cure it, something that hung heavy in her heart. It seemed that she still wasn't used to it even months after the incident. Getting used to Yang's absence was certainly not an easy task for anyone, but for her it seemed an impossibility with how close they were.

_8:19_

It was quite late; she'd gotten held up at her job at the campus library sorting back books that students were in too much of a rush to find their proper places. She hadn't eaten dinner yet and on the way out decided she was in no mood to go anywhere but home. Honestly she wasn't sure she was even up to cooking anything either, but a recount of the week had her remembering that she had skipped dinner every night that week as well as breakfast (and come to think of it, she'd only eaten lunch twice within the last five days) and when she looked in the mirror this morning, it showed.

So she turned on the stove and grabbed a pot from one of the cabinets before filling it with water. From the pantry she grabbed a box of mac 'n' cheese and waited beside the pot, waiting for it to boil.

It had been in this very spot when she had found out.

She had been cooking dinner for the both of them, her and Yang, to celebrate the promotion that her sister had received at her job at a local convenience store. It was a small victory, but with their busy college and work lives they found that it was best to live life celebrating even the smallest things (although in all honesty the managers at that store _did_ get paid a hefty sum compared to the rest of the employees). So Ruby had decided to prepare a small dinner of a collective of Yang's favorites, most of them spicy foods, to surprise her when she returned home.

But….she never did.

The call had stunned her and at first she had no words to say. She wasn't sure she had any. The news had registered with her until she had turned on the TV to the local news station. The first thing on screen was live footage of Yang's store, surrounded by police tape and painted in reds and blues.

The nausea had set in at that point and her body finally began to react drastically, her slow mind still stuck in disbelief as it wondered why she was behaving that way. Pushing back her uneasiness she had gotten into her car and started driving, the destination in mind the hospital but when she pulled to a stop, it was at the crime scene.

The gurgle of bubbles snapped Ruby out of her memories and she turned down the heat on the eye and dumped the macaroni into the water. Grabbing a wooden spoon she began stirring the noodles, deciding to focus on the task at hand before ruining her dinner.

She finished cooking in another ten minutes and sat down with her plate full of noodles at the table, silently eating as she willed away the ache in her chest. It was persistent though and eventually she had to stop eating, not even halfway through, as she lost her appetite. Leaving her plate on the table she went back into the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of pills on the counter and dumping three into her hand. The bottle said two, but after a short week she realized that it would do her better to take three at a time. She felt less pain if she did.

Tossing the pills into her mouth she swallowed, chasing them done with her glass of water. The cool rush of water soothed her throat, the flavorless liquid like heaven on her tongue and she recalled that it wasn't just food that she was leaving out of her diet lately.

Knowing the pills would kick in soon she began to clean the kitchen the best she could, scraping the rest of her dinner into the trash. She never bothered to save leftovers anymore. Going days on end without eating made it a waste of time and space and they were normally bad by the time she got back to them.

Her attempt at cleaning now done (when really she just dumped the dishes onto the already towering pile in the sink) she looked out the kitchen window up at the sky where the sun was setting. The horizon was a brilliant orange hue, the only streak of warm color in the already dark nighttime sky. The forest behind her house was colored by the warm light, the greens of the leaves of the trees and of the swaying grasses turning a softer color. It was quite the sight to see, actually, something that normally would've invoked a peace inside her. But right now she could only stare at it blankly as she shut out all her emotions in order to feel nothing.

After the incident she had done much of the same thing, shutting people off as she wallowed alone in her room. She ceased all contact with her friends and stopped taking calls from her father who was really only calling out of obligation than to really comfort her. Once she and Yang moved out of his house for college he stopped paying attention to them, letting them make their own decisions and become their own person without any interference. He probably took it a step too far, stopping all contact with them period in order to avoid treading on their lives, and eventually Yang and Ruby forgot about him altogether except at the most random of times. For someone who cared for them after their mother died one would think they would be more grateful towards him, but whenever Ruby really thought about it, it was Yang that had cared for the two of them. Their father was never around so their leaving the house was not much different than living there.

Now with Yang's death he had decided to step up and help Ruby out, offering to pay for the mortgage payments while she covered the basic bills. With half their income gone, Ruby accepted the offer begrudgingly, feeling almost as if she had betrayed Yang and her independence. But she was able to keep the house because of it which overpowered her feelings of guilt knowing that Yang would never want her to lose it.

Ruby looked up past the treetops to the night sky, a vast expanse of navy blue that grew darker with each inch that the sun slipped below the horizon. A single star twinkled into sight, the first one in the sky and Ruby closed her eyes out of habit, whispering that old childhood rhyme that Yang had taught her.

_Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might. Have the wish I wish tonight._

She took a deep breath.

"_I wish I wasn't so alone."_

Her fingers curled around the sink, gripping the edge so tight her knuckles pressed against her skin in an attempt to escape their hold. Her eyes welled up with tears and her body shook, the first sob wracking her frame accompanied by an ugly noise that ripped right out of her throat. The tears began to spill over as she cried over Yang again, yearning to see her sister once more so that she didn't have to suffer through all this without her. Yang had been her entire world and now that she was gone it was like she was walking on thin air, nothing around her really existing.

All of it meant nothing.

Once her crying subsided she found herself curled on the floor, hugging herself and leaning against the bottom cabinets. Her eyes stung and her face felt sticky and wet. Using her sleeve to wipe away the tears and snot that had dribbled down her nose she began to stand up, only to be knocked down by a large tremor that shook the whole house. Eyes flying open in surprise she reached up to grab the edge of the counter to steady herself against the shaking.

An earthquake? But they never had earthquakes.

A white light washed out the room, rendering Ruby blind for the two seconds it lasted before passing over, dimming as it moved further away. The tremors died with it and when Ruby looked up to the window she saw it zipping across the sky, over the forest. She jumped to her feet to watch it plummet behind the trees, crashing with a bright flash of white but no sound.

A comet?

_(A falling star._)

Ruby contemplated calling someone about the phenomenon, but realized she didn't even know who to call about these things. That and her curiosity had gotten the better of her, wondering what could produce so much light and cause so much commotion and not even make a sound upon slamming into the ground. So without further questioning she yanked her jacket off the chair, slipping it on as she ran out the back door, barely remembering to shut it. Her bike was leaned against the side of the house and she propped it up, hopping on and pedaling full speed to where she had seen the light land.

The forest wasn't a difficult one to navigate, but certainly a bit arduous at nighttime, her bike bouncing off rocks and skidding on beds of grass. But she used to go biking in this forest with Yang all the time and took it all in stride, making it to where she had guessed the crash site to be.

Yet when she arrived there was no crater as she had expected or some space rock steaming from being burned up as it fell through the atmosphere at ridiculous speeds. Instead the area was surrounded in a surreal white glow, casting everything - trees, leaves, flowers, grass, dirt - in its light. It was a stark contrast to the dark of the night, so bright that Ruby found herself shielding her eyes against it lest they melt right from her head. To be safe she stayed on the outer reaches of the light, waiting patiently as it dimmed, receding until it was more concentrated in the middle of the small clearing.

And when Ruby took her hand away she saw a girl floating before her. Her bare feet, though close to the ground, did not touch it. The dress she wore, made of the purest white that one only saw on fresh fallen snow, floated around her, the fabric swaying in a breeze that did not exist, wrapping around her limbs and caressing her pale skin. Among the tendrils of fabric were the locks of her hair, a white to match her dress, spread around her head weightlessly. It was as if her entire being defied the laws of gravity, knowing not of physics or common sense. The glow that had previously been blinding was still so, but more concentrated on her now, outlining her frame in an ethereal glow so mystical she looked like something straight out of a fantasy.

Ruby stared at the girl gape-mouthed in awe. Perhaps she had taken one too many pills…

All at once the glow disappeared, leaving the forest in a sudden darkness again as the girl's defiance of gravity ceased, her body plummeting to the earth. Acting quickly Ruby lunged forward, catching the girl underneath the arms and stopping her from hitting her head on the ground. She wasn't heavy, not that she really expected her to be since she was floating in mid-air.

A glance at the girl's face told Ruby that not only was she fast asleep but she was also very...well, pretty. She could only suppose so given that the girl looked exactly what many would believe to be a goddess or deity of some sort, but without the accompaniment of the glow she seemed more approachable now, more solid.

Ruby glanced around the forest, squinting between trees. Had anyone else seen this? What would they think? She looked back down at the girl, still sound asleep. Well, she couldn't just leave her here, that was for sure.

She scooped the girl into her arms carefully, being careful to not jostle her too much or bend any of her limbs in an awkward or painful position. Once she made sure she had a secure hold on her she began trudging back through the forest to her house, leaving her bike behind to come and get later once she had everything straightened out. Without the moon out yet she let the dim light through her window guide her back, sticking to the trail the best she could in the dark. Her eyes adjusted soon enough and she only threw occasional glances to her house every now and again, knowing which way she was headed just by the landmarks of the forest.

Right as she exited the forest Ruby looked up and frowned.

There were no stars in the sky anymore.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so this is an idea that I've been playing with for a very long time now and only just got around to doing. This wasn't the original ending when I came up with this one (in fact, there was no ending 'cause this was originally going to be a multi-chap fic) but I decided to ditch that idea and make it a simple one shot.**

**And then I came up with a few different endings for this but most of them involved Weiss talking as she tried to explain things to Ruby but then I kept confusing myself and kept finding loopholes so...I cut all that out. Now you all can draw your own conclusions and imagine what happens next. Whatever you come up with is canon, I give you permission.**

**Sorry if this is lackluster or lazy. I've been wanting to do this idea for so long but I think I waited too long because halfway through I started getting bored.**

**Hence, the lame ending. **

**So again, very sorry. I'll definitely try better next time. I still have plenty of ideas to write.**


End file.
